Girls Kingdom, Vol. 1

Leave a reply

By Nayo and Shio Sakura. Released in Japan by GL Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Philip Reuben.

Despite the fact that this is a review of Vol. 1 of a fairly new light novel series, the one thing I took away from it most was nostalgia. This book is drenched in Maria-sama Ga Miteru and Strawberry Panic, two series from the 00s that defined a generation of yuri, for better and worse. (In that order – Maria-sama for Better, Strawberry Panic for worse.) I think the author is well aware of what the audience wants here, and is quite happy to give it to them with the maximum amount of ridiculousness. There may be heartwarming moments and genuine yuri in future volumes, though I’m skeptical. What we get here, though, is one girl’s entry into a magical kingdom, one where she ends up having the Golden Ticket – almost literally – that puts her among the elite. And we get another girl, at the pinnacle of that elite, and her desire to try to have as little to do with it as possible. They need each other. They make a great pair.

Misaki is a young girl starting her first day at a new school. She runs out of her house screaming she’s going to be late (no toast, sadly), but ends up being VERY late, as the school is ridiculously huge. So late she jumps the gate – an expellable offense – but it’s OK, as Himeko is standing there, and is highly amused at the fact that a) Misaki jumped the gate at ALL, and b) Misaki seems to know NOTHING about the school that she’s starting in today. So she gets Misaki to agree to be her maid, in exchange for getting her out of being expelled. Misaki is rather baffled by this, then finds out why this school that she signed up for but knew nothing about is free: the half of the class she’s in are all training to be maids, so they may serve the OTHER half of the class. Which has Himeko, who is daughter of the Chairman of the Board.

As you can see, this premise is bananas, for many, many reasons. Misaki’s ignorance of EVERYTHING about her new school is hilarious. A school for maids-in-training and their rich young mistresses is so egregiously classist that your jaw will drop. Misaki’s roommate Kirara, who in any other series like this would be the protagonist, does things that made me physically recoil from my phone as I was reading the book. There are identical twins – with the same first name – who appear to be on the maid side for shits and giggles, which is fine as that’s how they live everything else in their life. Himeko is the perfect rich young girl, right down to living like an absolute slob and not giving a rat’s ass what anyone thinks of her. The book is basically a series of train wrecks set to prose.

That said, I had a grin on my face reading it. If you can put up with its silliness, it’s fun. If you ever saw or read Strawberry Panic, it’s required reading.

Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Vol. 3

2 Replies

By Hitomi Iruma and Nakatani Nio. Released in Japan as “Yagate Kimi ni Naru: Saeki Sayaka ni Tsuite” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jan Cash and Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Jenny McKeon.

As I was reading the 3rd and final volume of this spinoff series, I began to feel that it was less of a novel and more of a reward. A reward for Sayaka, who, after two books of repressed feelings and failed romances, finally gets to experience a joyous love. And a reward for the reader, because man, this book is a bright ball of sunshine. Sayaka and Haru’s interaction is simply a joy to read, Sayaka’s ongoing inner monologues are revelatory, especially her growing realization that yes, this is in fact real love she is feeling and it’s not the same thing as the love she has for Those Two Girls. (Though that may be the funniest scene in the book… are those two also a couple, by the way?) The continuity between the three books is fantastic, playing into reader expectations very well. And, at last, Sayaka and Touko finally get together to talk post-graduation, though that is the one note of bittersweetness in this sugary book.

The cover pretty much sets the stage. After seeing Haru crying at the end of the previous volume, the two have become friends, and the book begins with Haru confessing to Sayaka… though also admitting that her personality is the sort that also lets go of things easily. This actually doesn’t become apparent as the book goes on, as Haru is quite patient with Sayaka, who spends the entire book musing about what she feels for Haru, how it compares to her feelings for her old sempai, or Touko, or even the girl from the pool in elementary school. The book is mostly a series of conversations, showing us a Sayaka who is opening up to others far easier than she used to but is still definitely herself. Sayaka agrees to go out with Haru on a “trial basis”, as Haru puts it, and rapidly realizes that this *is* different from the others, and that she really has fallen in love.

Addressing the elephant in the room, yes, Haru sure does look like Yuu, but they’re not very much alike. She also resembles the swimming girl from Book One, to the point where the author includes a scene with Sayaka watching a TV show interviewing a swimmer who is clearly meant to be the same girl. What’s more, the climax of the third book once again takes place in a pool, with Sayaka and Haru’s underwater “confession” being incredibly emotional and heartwarming. (I admit I was also happy to see the swimming girl had recovered from Sayaka’s fleeing.) The conversations, both in dialogue and in text messages, felt very in character on all sides, and I was once again very happy to see that this is nothing whatsoever like the author’s other series, Adachi and Shimamura. And I really enjoyed the emphasis on names, and how Sayaka’s manner of addressing Haru changes over the book as her feelings grow. (But she still says “Koito-san”.)

There is a question in this book about whether a college student really is more “grown up” than a high school student, and you get the sense Sayaka is still maturing in that regard. The epilogue shows she has not gone as far with Haru as Yuu and Touko have. But that’s fine, because they’re different couples behaving differently. And even though there’s some sadness as Sayaka realizes she and Touko will likely grow more distant over time, the overall feeling after finishing this book is happiness that Sayaka and Haru are really in love, and what they brought to each other’s lives.

Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?, Vol. 7

Leave a reply

By Dachima Inaka and Iida Pochi. Released in Japan as “Tsujo Kogeki ga Zentai Kogeki de Ni-kai Kogeki no Okasan wa Suki desu ka?” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

This series (which has now ended in Japan at Vol. 11) has, as its primary goal, humor and fanservice, as with many other series of its type – this one just involves moms. But there is a secondary goal that the series occasionally reaches toward, which is “make Masato a mature, self-sufficient young man”. As the author admits, you can’t really take this TOO far or you’d ruin the series’ main running gag of his being useless in the face of his overpowered mom. But this volume comes closest to giving him actual character development, and I can distantly see an endgame in site. That’s not so say this book is not also very silly, as we get stranded on a desert island, a beach volleyball game that seems to mostly involve hitting the girls’ asses with the ball, and the third of the Four Heavenly Kings, who seems to bond with Masato right away. And then there’s Porta… so close, but not yet.

This volume begins with a new area opening, which features Beastmen, including the Beastman Mom we saw in the tournament arc. Our party wins a gatcha lottery, with Mamako winning the grand prize, a trip to a resort for three days. Unfortunately, the airship they’re taking to the resort ends up in the midst of a party fight, and they end up crash landing on a seemingly deserted island. Still, they have the infinitely overpowered Mamako, so they can do things like create a beach, an entire resort town, etc. just by her calling on Mother Earth and willing it to happen. And Masato runs into a kindred spirit, someone who might finally be able to teach him how to get stronger. The question is… stronger for what? And also… is Mamako wearing herself out? REALLY?!

Yes, we’re finally getting a situation engineered where Mamako can’t use her full powers, and in fact is exhausting herself just trying to do what she normally does. This dovetails nicely with the ending, where Masato confronts her about lying to him about being fine, which she finally, grudgingly admits to because she didn’t want to worry him. This is, frankly, a situation that a parent has likely had to deal with before. As for Masato himself, after seeing the varieties of Mom-hating that the Four Heavenly Kings offer, he realizes, in the typical shonen protagonist way, that he wants to get stronger so that he can protect others, not just so that he can beat his mom at something. Which is good, as the ending trap requires him to use power that ONLY works if he says it’s to protect his mom. Even the other girls have to admit that he was almost cool there for a moment.

There’s lots of silliness here as well, usually involving our two pathetic villainesses, or Wise and Medhi, our two somewhat pathetic heroines. But this is Masato’s book, and he holds up pretty well, despite spending the first three quarters of it or so moping around thinking about how weak he is. Next time will we finally confront the mystery that is Porta? Maybe, maybe not. But for fans of the series, this is a very good volume.